Facts about Africa
Africa is the second largest continent on earth, occupying 22% of the Earth's land area. Africa measures about 5,000 miles (8,000 km) from north to south and about 4,600 miles from east to west. Africa's land area is roughly 11.724 ml. sq. ml. (30.3657 ml. sq. km). The coastline of Africa is18,950 miles. The prime meridian (0º longitude) crosses Africa from north to south, passing through Tema near Accra in Ghana. The Nile River is the world’s longest river, spanning 4,160 miles from the Mediteranean Sea in North East Africa to Lake Victoria in South East Africa. Other long rivers in Africa are the Congo, Niger, Zambezi, and Orange rivers. Africa's share of the world's major mineral reserves is estimated as follows: 8% petroleum, 27% bauxite, 29% uranium, 20% copper, 67% phosphorites, and substantial reserves of iron ore, manganese, chromium, cobalt, platinum, and titanium. Algeria, Egypt, Libya, and Nigeria are the major petroleum and natural gas producing countries in Africa. Botswana, Congo (D. R.), and South Africa together produce 50% of the world's diamonds. Ghana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe together produce nearly 50% of the world’s gold. Africa has an average elevation of about 2,200 feet (670 m). The East African Rift System constitutes Africa’s most extensive mountain system. The highest mountain in Africa is Mt Kilimanjaro (19,317 ft) in Tanzania. The Sahara Desert alone is expanding southwards at an average of 0.8 km (½ mile) a month. The Namib is the world's oldest desert, and the only desert in Africa inhabited by elephant, rhino, giraffe and lion. Other major deserts in Africa are the Namib and the red-sanded Kalahari in southern Africa. The African continent is cut almost equally in two by the equator. Most of Africa lies within the tropical region, bounded on the north by the tropic of Cancer and on the south by the tropic of Capricorn. The largest lake in Africa is Lake Victoria, the chief reservoir of the Nile river.Its greatest known depth is 82 m (270 ft). Other great lakes in Africa are Tanganyika (in Tanzania and Congo) and Nyasa in (Tanzania and Malawi). Lake Malawi contains the largest number of fish species of any lake in the world, probably over 500 from ten families. Particularly noteworthy are the Cichlidae, of which all but five of over 400 species are endemic to Lake Malawi. The lake contains 30% of all known cichlid species. Of particular interest is the 'mbuna' rock fish. The largest city of Africa is Cairoin Egypt, with the population of 9.2 million. Only about 6% of Africa is arable; nearly 25% is forested or wooded. The largest country in Africa is Sudan spanning 968,000 sq mi. Africa’s population is slightly less than 14% of the total world population. The most prevalent diseases in Africa include malaria, dysentery, tuberculosis, whooping cough, typhoid fever, gonorrhea, and AIDS. Africa's major languages include Arabic (North), Berber (Morocco and Algeria), Bantu group of languages (central and southern Africa), Swahili (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda), Akan (Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire), Saharan and Maba (Chad basin), Koma (the Blue Nile basin), and Songhai (upper-middle Niger River region). The smallest African country is The Seychelles covering an area of 453 sq km but Gambia is the smallest of the mainland African states, covering an area of 11,300 sq km (4,363 sq mi). More than 1,000 different languages are spoken in Africa. Somalia is the only country in the world where all the citizens speak one language, Somali. The African elephant is the largest living land mammal. |
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